the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
May 4, 2026
This article is translated from the May 1 issue, #3013 of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the paper of the Trotskyist group of that name active in France.
At least 2,490 dead and 7,725 wounded since the alleged ceasefire of March 2. That is the grim toll declared on April 24 by the Lebanese Ministry of Health, after weeks of Israeli bombings and shelling of southern Lebanon under the pretext of destroying “Hezbollah military infrastructure.”
On April 26 alone, 14 villagers in southern Lebanon were killed in intense bombardments. After drones broadcast an evacuation order to inhabitants of seven villages in the Nabatieh area, a frantic exodus resulted in massive traffic jams on the roads leading out of the “yellow zone.” Around 230 square miles are now occupied by the Israeli army. Between 55 and 70 villages have been reduced to rubble—ostensibly to protect neighboring Israeli villages targeted by Hezbollah rockets. The threat to Lebanon has even spread to the northeast, with bombings in the Bekaa Valley.
The predominantly Shiite inhabitants of these villages, and thousands of displaced families who have sought refuge there, are subjected with or without warning to daily surveillance drone and fighter jet sorties and bombings. They are forced to evacuate in panic. Those who try to return or refuse to leave find their homes dynamited and their farmland devastated.
The Israeli government, in appealing for Israel’s “existential survival,” is putting the same zeal into razing southern Lebanon as it did with Gaza. Proof of this includes the sickening publicity given to a certain far-right rabbi and reservist in combat boots who was highlighted as a figurehead in recent celebrations of Israel’s independence from England. This fascist-leaning religious figure is held up as an example by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cronies for his “extraordinary contribution to society and the state.” He made a spectacle of himself operating an armored bulldozer, flattening still-smoldering ruins in Gaza. He is now wreaking havoc in southern Lebanon. He boasts of razing “50 houses a week” under the protection of Israeli planes, tanks, and artillery. If further proof is needed, he is shielded by Netanyahu’s order to the army to “strike hard in Lebanon following Hezbollah’s ceasefire violations.” The tired pretext of pro-Iranian Hezbollah’s attacks only strengthens Hezbollah’s supporters’ determination in the face of the permanent war that the Israeli government imposes on the populations of the region.
The recent agreement between U.S. leaders and the Lebanese prime minister explicitly authorizes Netanyahu to carry out unlimited destruction, if it is meant to “defend against attacks.” The great powers, particularly the foremost, U.S. imperialism, give Israel free rein to resume occupying southern Lebanon and then possibly annex it outright. What is emerging is endless war endured by the inhabitants of the region—including those who still believe they are being protected by Netanyahu.